The technical field of the invention may include methods, systems, and devices that may be used to produce a heat pump effect. A heat pump is generally any device that may use an energetic input to produce a flow of heat from a low temperature to a hot temperature. In nature, heat transfer generally occurs from hot to cold. A hot drink cooling to room temperature via release of its own heat is an example of this natural process. A heat pump may utilize additional energy to reverse this naturally occurring process and move heat from cold to hot. A refrigerator keeping its insulated internal compartment cool by removing heat via a vapor compression heat pump may be an example of this phenomenon.
The energy involved to power a heat pump may come in chemical, mechanical, thermal, or electrical form, for example. Regardless of the source of the energy driving the heat pump, the general approach of all heat pumps is generally the same: cause a spontaneous processes that naturally occurs in a set order dictated by the natural flow of heat from hot to cold to occur in the reverse order. An example is today's widely used vapor compression system that forces a refrigerant to boil at a low temperature and condense at a high temperature through modification of its pressure via a mechanically driven compressor.